Sold one “Bob on Bob.”
The buyer was my former secretary. She was passing the café and saw me and stopped by. Commerce resulted.
In other news…
1.) Things have been moving along in a variety on non-writing-but-writing-related fronts.
(A) The option agreement for “The Pirates and the Mouse” is supposedly en route. What, if anything, is on the table me remains undiscussed. I wonder how I will respond: money grubber or fool? (B) Have prepped for my upcoming symposium talk. Wrote it out (12 pp.); condensed it onto 3X5 cards (12) as I learned in 9th grade public speaking; tightened the contents of the cards, then considered tightening all 12 onto one but recalled the joke of the fellow who condensed his speech to a key word – and forgot the word. (C) Have been invited to discuss the Air Pirates on the podcast of a young fellow who, from the looks of his prior broadcasts, is interested in (i) the counter-culture and (ii) a multitude of conspiracy theories. I disclosed I thought Lee Harvey Oswald did it, and he agreed to keep away from that subject. (D) A woman compiling an anthology in tribute to Trina Robbins for UMiss Press has asked permission to reprint my CJ interview. That interview is slated for inclusion in my new collection from FU Press, and the editor/publisher says granting her request may reduce sales of my book by diminishing its exclusivity or increase sales by broadening my name recognition. Since I figure we are talking low single digits either way, I said she should go ahead.
2.) This isn’t writing-related at all, but since readers like hearing about my café encounters… On recent Sundays, my favored table has been occupied upon my arrival by a fellow who used to sit against the back wall near the rest room. He is in his 70s, with close-cropped hair and bad teeth. He is usually on his iPad and keeps his belongings in a small cardboard Domno’s Pizza box. He usually leaves by the time I have finished the Chronicle (5-10 minutes), and once I see him packing, I prepare to shift.
We had begun exchanging a few words and last week he asked if I was a registered Berkeley voter. I said I was, and he asked if I would sign some petitions for which, I assume, he collected compensation for each signature he snagged. So this week I asked if he had any new petitions. He did, so I signed them. “What’s new?” he said.
“You don’t know anything about me,” I said, “but since you ask, I’ve got a new defibrilator.”
Then we discussed it and my heart history, and when we were through, he asked if could add me to his prayer list. Adele and I are already on the prayer list of a woman in NYC I went to high school with, so I said “Sure.”
Can’t hurt, right?
So many Bob Levins on the Internet; I'm the Bob Levin who writes.